Inveigled
by Hazeljv
Summary: Sequel to Ensnared. Axiom has sent the Elric brothers on yet another quest to better his world. But with new allies and new enemies, can the Elrics catch deranged serial killers while avoiding a pair of Homunculi? We can only hope.
1. Blue, Blood

**And here it is! The long awaited sequel to Ensnared! Sorry this took so long, but I've been doing NaNoWriMo for the last three weeks, and before that I had writer's block, but it's all good now! :D**

**Now, without further ado, INVEIGLED (don't even try to pronounce that, trust me)!**

Chapter One: Blue, Blood

The BAU members walked into the brick house with the blue door and the broken window.

They walked past the pristine foyer and lushly carpeted steps that lead to the spacious living room. The large-screened television was still on, the comforting sounds of audience laughter and bad jokes of a sitcom drifted down to the main level.

They looked in the modern kitchen. One of the cupboard doors stood ajar, while the refrigerator hummed. The dish washer was on.

They finally made it to the staircase that lead to the basement. Pictures of the family hung on the walls. A daughter, eleven. A son, thirteen. And a family portrait that looked a bit outdated. Then a smell they were familiar with hit them like a wall: the sickening, metallic stench of blood.

When they finally reached the crime scene, they all stopped dead. Now, the BAU profilers were very well acquainted with blood. They had seen hundreds of crime scenes. But this... This was just pure _carnage_.

"Oh my _God_." JJ. whispered. She looked a little green, they all did.

Every surface in the main room of the basement was coated in a thick layer of blood. The entire lower floor reeked of it. One of the police officers suddenly bolted past them and up the stairs, having been over-whelmed by the horrifying aroma.

The only remains of the four victims were dried-out carcasses. Their wrists and throats had been slashed. The killer had drained their blood into a large bucket (left at the scene) and had then splashed it over every square inch of the room. To finish they had then cut out the victim's eyes and had stolen them.

"This is..." Prentiss trailed off, pursing her lips.

"Awful." Reid offered. Prentiss nodded.

"Sounds about right." She agreed. JJ. put her hand over her mouth and nose.

"I'm going to go talk to the neighbours." She said, hurrying up the stairs.

"Prentiss and Reid, go with JJ. Morgan, and Rossi, stay down here with me." Hotch said. He, Rossi and Morgan did not look overly bothered (especially the elder men), but Reid and Prentiss were all too happy to oblige the order. "Alright, let's get to work."

...

Edward groaned and curled up on his side. The ground was hard and cold under him and he felt blades of cool grass tickle his face. His forehead rested against something warm, hard and rounded. He cracked open his eyes to see familiar golden hair. He sat up a bit too quickly and grunted.

"Alphonse?" He half-whispered, shaking his brother's shoulder. The younger blonde blinked awake and rolled onto his back, looking up at Edward.

"Ed? Where are we?" He asked, slowly sitting up. Edward looked around , his brow furrowing.

"I don't know, Al... Do you think we're anywhere close to Quantico?" He questioned. Alphonse also looked around. They were in a large grassy field sprinkled with bushes, trees, lampposts and benches. A paved path wound it's way around the field, which was bordered by houses on two sides and streets with stores and apartment buildings on the other two sides.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that we're still in the future of Axiom's world." Alphonse said, looking at a sleek black Lexus parked not-too-far off on one of the busier streets bordering the park.

"Fullmetal, where the hell are we?" Roy grunted from behind them. The Elrics turned to see Roy laying face-down on the ground under Riza, who was just waking up. Riza quickly stood and helped Roy to his feet.

"We don't know." Edward answered, he and Alphonse also standing. Roy's lips twitched.

"Useless as always, Fullmetal." He quipped. Edward's eyebrow twitched, but before he could retaliate, Riza hit Roy over the head. "What was that for, Hawkeye?" Roy demanded. Riza glanced at him and rolled her eyes.

"Sir, we are in an unknown time and place. Now is not the time to be picking fights with Ed." She dead-panned. Roy let out a short, sharp sigh and crossed his arms.

"Fine." He huffed, looking at the sky. "It looks to be about 8 pm. That street seems to be the busiest, let's go there." He continued, pointing to one of the brightly lit streets. Edward put his arm out as Roy walked past, effectively stopping him.

"You two can't walk around here in Amestrian Military uniforms. You'll attract unwanted attention." Edward said, running his gaze over the street. "There." He said after a moment, pointing at a large department store. "I still have some money from this world. We can buy you clothes there." Roy looked like he was about to protest, but thought better of it.

"Alright, lead the way, Fullmetal."

...

"You're a real prick, Axiom, dumping them in an unfamiliar place." Truth groaned, rubbing it's forehead. Axiom chuckled.

"Stop being such a downer, Truth. Just go with it. It's all part of my plan." Axiom said, smiling. Truth crossed it's arms, exasperated.

"As if you even have a plan." Truth grumbled. "Where are the Homunculi?" It asked a few minutes later. Axiom paused.

"Not far. I don't think it will be long before they run into the Elrics." Axiom replied, nodding to itself.

"They will be okay, right? The Homunculi cannot hurt them?" Truth questioned. Axiom leered at the white being.

"Aw, do you actually care about them? That's cute." Axiom chuckled. Truth opened it's mouth to protest, but Axiom ploughed on. "They'll be fine, Truth."

"Good." And that was the end of that.

...

"Put it on."

"No."

"Stop being so difficult!" Edward exclaimed, shoving the clothes in his hands at Riza. The woman behind the counter gave them an odd look.

"I am NOT wearing this, Edward." Riza growled back.

"But this is what they wear in this world!" Edward protested.

"It's not functional! Where am I supposed to hide my guns?"

"People in this world are not supposed to be _able _to hide guns in their clothes." Edward said, sighing. Riza's brow furrowed.

"But-" Edward's eyebrow twitched.

"_Put on the damn clothes!_"

"Fullmetal, what the hell is going on out here?" Roy asked as he exited the change room. He wore blue jeans, a white button-up shirt with only one side tucked in, and a faded black leather jacket.

"See? That bastard has already changed. Go." Edward said, forcing the clothes into Riza's arms. Riza gave him a look that could kill.

"Hawkeye, go." Roy commanded. Riza looked at him for a moment and then sighed, walking toward the woman's change room. A moment later Alphonse came out of the men's change room with a pile of clothing for Roy.

"She's very stubborn." He noted, putting the clothes on the counter.

"I heard that, Al." Riza's voice called from the change room. Alphonse shifted guiltily. After a minute or two Riza reappeared. She wore black skinny jeans, a navy blue tank top, a black studded belt, and a black trench coat (in which resided at least ten hand-held weapons).

"You look nice, Hawkeye." Roy commented. Riza nodded at him as she put a pile of clothes onto the counter beside Roy's.

"Thank you, Sir. You also look nice." She replied stonily. Edward payed for the clothes and they left.

"Here's the plan. You two," Edward pointed at Roy and Riza. "are our aunt and uncle."

"Do you mean..." Riza trailed off, her eyes narrowing.

"We have to act married?" Roy finished, a devious look settling onto his face.

"Yes, that is what I said." Edward replied, raising a brow at them. Roy grinned and put his arm around Riza.

"Can do." He said, cheerily.

"Sir, I will give you five seconds to put a foot of space between us before I shoot you." Riza deadpanned.

"Come on, Hawkeye. We're _married _now." Roy said. Riza reached her hand into her coat.

"You two, behave. Colonel, stop being such a bastard. Hawkeye, lighten up. By the way, you should probably start calling each other by your first names." Edward said. Roy and Riza looked at each other.

"Sir, would it be alright if I called you by your first name?" Riza asked bluntly.

"Yes. May I call you by your first name, Hawkeye?" Roy replied. Riza paused.

"I will allow it... Roy." She stated. Roy nodded.

"Good. Now, we need to figure out where we are." Just as Edward said that, he spotted something that made him stop dead in his tracks. Alphonse squeaked as he ran into his brother's back. Coming out of the police station across the street were the BAU profilers. "Al... Look." At that moment, Reid turned and his eyes landed on the Elrics.

"Edward? Alphonse?" He called. The other agents looked at the blond duo as well, stunned.

"Spencer..." Alphonse blinked and then his voice lowered to a whisper. "So... Are we still in Quantico, then?"

"I don't think so. None of this looks familiar." Edward murmured back. The agents hurried across the road.

"Where have you two _been_?" Reid asked. The Elrics exchanged a glance and shrugged in unison. How were they supposed to answer that?

"Nowhere." Alphonse said. It certainly was not a lie. JJ. stepped forward and grasped his shoulders, her wide eyes roaming first Alphonse's face and then Edward's.

"How...?" She trailed off, paling. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked, frowning. Rossi, who wore a troubled scowl, stepped forward to examine them.

"You've been gone for almost two years. And yet you haven't aged."

...

"So, where do you suppose we are, Pride?" The tall man asked, surveying the street over the rims of his sunglasses. The child beside him scoffed.

"What do you think, Greed? I have no finer grasp of this area than you do." The child hissed, his voice demonic. Greed shrugged and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Geez, sorry. Just thought I'd ask." He said. Pride glared at him. "Why are we even here? Truth must have been bored or something." Greed noted.

"The other being said something about the Elrics." Pride's icy gaze flickered over the street. Greed noticed his shadow's crawling across the ground and walls, their slitted eyes and sharp teethed mouths glinting in the dim light of the blinking streetlights.

"So you think this is where they have been hiding for the last few days?" He asked, shoving his hands in his pants pockets. The smile that marred Pride's face was hardly human, and looked especially out of place on Pride's young face.

"Precisely."

...

"Never mind about our ageing, or lack there of." Edward cut in after a few minutes of endless questioning via the BAU agents. "Are you working on a case right now?"

"Uh, yes... Why?" Reid replied, blinking. He still seemed surprised by their sudden reappearance.

"We'll help you." Alphonse offered, although it sounded less like a request, and more like a demand. The Elrics exchanged a glance. They were both thinking the same thing:

'_If they are here, and they are working on a serial killer case... Then this is part one of Axiom's quest. So, we need to get in on this case.'_

"You can't help us with a case, you're just civilians." Hotch stated firmly.

"We _need_ to help you." Edward retorted, his tone leaving no room for argument. "This is our aunt and uncle, Roy and Riza Mustang." Both of said "distant Elrics" stepped forward to give the BAU profilers strong handshakes.

"I prefer to go by Hawkeye." Riza said. Edward rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

"Anyway, tell us about this case." He said, ushering them back into the New York City police station. Hotch, seeming to think it better to not argue with Edward, led them into a conference room and pulled up some photos on the projection screen. To the profilers' surprise, Alphonse was the only one who looked away from the pictures. Edward looked a little pale, but Roy and Riza seemed completely undisturbed by the horrible crime scene.

"Last night a family of four was murdered in their home in the suburbs. The unsub gathered the family in the basement -probably at gunpoint- and then slashed their throats and wrists, before draining their blood into a bucket. The unsub then covered the entire room in a coat of blood. He removed their eyes postmortem." JJ. explained.

"What colour were their eyes?" Roy asked, crossing his arms and looking at the gruesome pictures with a military-like indifference.

"Blue. All of them had blue eyes." Morgan said.

"That does not sound like a coincidence." Riza commented, frowning.

"That's what we thought, too." Prentiss agreed. Edward drummed the fingers of his left hand on the table pensively.

"So the question is... Why collect blue eyes?"

**Like it? Hate it? Either way, why not review and share your opinion? :)**

**Just a heads up: I definitely will not even start an update until early December, so I will not update again until mid-December at the latest. Sorry for the inconvenience. **

**Until the next update, DFTBA.**


	2. Patience

**Update for Christmas? Fuck yeah.**

**Not much to say. MERRY CHRISTMAS (to those who celebrate it), HAPPY HOLIDAYS, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR. And stuff and things.**

Chapter Two- Patience

"We've seen collectors before." JJ. commented, flipping through the files on her tablet. Roy and Riza shared a quizzical look.

'_Collector?_' They both turned over the word in their minds, coming to the conclusion that it could not possibly be a good thing.

"This doesn't feel like a collector to me." Rossi argued, tapping his chin. "Or, at the very least, not the typical collector. The collection is so precise. The eyes are removed surgically. It was a very careful job."

"The unsub wouldn't be that careful if they were just ingesting them." Morgan offered. Alphonse turned a particularly sickened shade of green.

"What do you mean?" Roy finally had to speak up, not being one to put up with being uninformed.

"The unsub has to be collecting blue eyes for a reason. And since they are so carefully removed, they must want them for something besides cannibalism." Reid explained.

"What if it's just a coincidence that the family had all blue eyes?" Riza asked.

"That's very unlikely." Reid replied. Riza shrugged.

"So, the 'unsub' is collecting the eyes as what? Some kind of trophy?" Edward questioned. Rossi nodded.

"Looks that way." He agreed. "Although we can really only be certain if..."

Morgan cut him off. "If the unsub kills again."

...

"That way." Pride pointed down the road. "They just followed a group of people into a police station."

"What do you suppose we do, Pride?" Greed asked, pushing off of the wall.

"Wait. They'll have to come out soon. And we'll be waiting." A demented smile curled Pride's lips. "Father will be proud." Greed rolled his eyes.

"You need to stop trying so hard to please the old man. We're just a means to an end to him, anyway." He grumbled, a hostile edge to his voice. Pride's eyes flashed with fury and his shadows lashed out violently. Within a twentieth of a second, Greed's head rolled off of his shoulders and onto the ground. Greed fell back, but it only took a moment for his ligaments to reattach his head to his body. He stood and rolled his shoulders and neck. "That was a bit excessive, was it not?"

"_Do not_ insult Father in front of me _ever _again." Pride snarled, clenching his fists. Greed scowled and began walking down the street. Pride followed him, taking four steps for each of Greed's much longer strides.

"Yeah, whatever."

...

The man walked up to the door of the third white house on the quiet, cozy street. He wore black leather gloves, carried a large, new bucket and a kit full of surgical tools, along with a long sleek knife which had been bleached clean. He turned the doorknob , and finding it locked, took out the spare key in the small ornamental rock in the garden. He quietly opened the door and walked inside.

The TV was playing in the basement, but the rest of the house was asleep. The man crept into the basement and walked up behind the dozing mother. He grabbed her in a choke hold and held on until she lost consciousness. 

Once she was out-cold, he went upstairs. The husband was sleeping, and it was easy to force him into the basement at gun-point. After that was done, he also strangled the father. Then he went back up for the children. The two blue-eyed girls, who were eight and five. He strangled the five year old girl first, and then placed her at the top of the stairs. He then strangled the older girl and carried both of them to the basement.

When there, he set to work, cutting each of them one-by-one and draining out their blood. He proceeded to carefully cut out their eyes and then splash the blood over every surface in the room. "Now everyone will see red..." He whispered hoarsely, surveying his work. He walked back out the house, cradling a jar of blue eyes "Amy will love them."

...

Morgan looked at the clock. "It's getting late, we should head back to the hotel."

"Do you have a place to stay?" Reid asked the Amestrians. "You always seem to have nowhere to go when we encounter you."

"Um... No, we don't." Edward answered reluctantly.

"Come with us." JJ. said, pulling on a coat. "If you're helping us on the case it will be better to have you close anyway."

"Thank you." Riza said, smiling slightly. They walked out of the station. The streets were quieter, but not by much. Edward stopped suddenly and his blood ran cold when he thought he say a leering shadow on the ground.

"Brother?" Alphonse whispered, frowning. Edward shook his head slightly as his eyes followed the shadow to an alley. Within the darkness of the narrow passage, he could see a familiar tall man, and young boy.

"Keep walking. _Hurry._" He hissed. Alphonse followed his gaze and held back a gasp, speeding up slightly. Greed stepped forward to go after them, but Pride stopped him.

"What now, boy wonder?" Greed asked, annoyed. Pride rolled his eyes.

"Patience, Greed. We need to get them alone, unless we want a full-out war with the humans." He replied. Greed scowled, but said nothing in return.

"Why didn't they try to attack?" Alphonse asked once they were in the back of one of the BAU Jeeps. Edward shrugged, glancing out of the rear window periodically.

"I don't know. Maybe they don't want to involve people from this world." He suggested. Alphonse's brow furrowed as he pondered the matter.

"What are you two talking about?" Prentiss asked, turning and raising an eyebrow at them. Both brothers looked at her innocently.

"Nothing."

...

That night, at approximately 10:39 pm, 9-1-1 received the following phone-call:

The regulation black corded telephone rang.

"_9-1-1, what is your emergency?" _The voice was monotonous and bored.

"_394 Myrtle Avenue." _A synthetic voice replied.

"_Excuse me?" _The operator asked.

"_You will find them in the red room of 394 Myrtle Avenue. Amy thanks them for their eyes." _The person on the other end explained.

"_Can you tell me your name?" _The operator asked.

"_Call me... Wrath."_ And then they hung up.

Now, no one paid the call much mind. It was New York after all, and they got all sorts of false calls. However, this one was confirmed to be the real deal eleven hours later, at 9:52 am when they received another phone-call.

"_Hello? Hello?"_ The voice was shrill and flustered.

"_This is 9-1-1, what is your emergency?" _The voice was slightly more alert than the one it had replaced.

"_M-My... My neighbours are dead!" _The shrill voice exclaimed.

"_Please stay calm, Miss. Where are you?" _The operator's voice held a measure of concern.

"_349 Myrtle Avenue. P-Please send someone over here!" _The shrill voice begged. There was the sound of taping as the operator typed in the information.

"_Remain calm, Miss, the police will arrive soon."_

_..._

Edward and Alphonse exchanged a glance, paling considerably as they listened to the recordings the next morning.

"Wrath? As in the emotion?" Morgan wondered. Roy crossed his arms.

"Or the Deadly Sin." He said stiffly.

"So... The unsub is angry?" Prentiss asked slowly.

"I... guess." Reid agreed, his burrow furrowed in though. Rossi turned to the Chief of police, his dark eyes stern.

"Why were we not alerted to this sooner?" He demanded. The chief looked just as angry as Rossi did.

"The operators thought it was a prank call. They did not think it was important until they received the second call." He replied.

"Well, that was stupid." Edward commented bluntly. Alphonse elbowed him, exasperated. The chief smirked.

"Sure was. Glad someone isn't too polite to say so."

...

"That's disgusting, Axiom. What that killer is doing." Truth said. "Humans never cease to revolt me. The things they can do... The pain they can inflict upon each other... All without even batting an eye."

"I know. Their problem is that they don't see themselves as we do. They see themselves separate from each other, and they think other people's suffering does not affect them. But we know better. We know that they are all the same." Axiom paused, collecting its thoughts. "I can't remember which human said it, but there was one who said: "All men are created equal.". And they are. The white people think they are better than the black people, the rich think themselves better than the poor, the men think they are better than the women, and the beautiful think themselves better than the average. And do not even get me started on the religious people. They all think they know us, but they know nothing."

"In the end, they all meet the same end, and they all meet us." Truth continued. "You can have all the power, and all the money, but you will die, and you will go through the gate. And despite what they think, there is no heaven and hell. Their is only On. They are born equal, and they depart equal."

"They are all so foolish." Axiom murmured. "So very foolish."

...

"Amy..." The man sat staring at a picture of a beautiful blond woman with dazzling blue eyes. In front of him sat a cooler full of ice and two glass jars, each containing eight blue eyes. "Just you wait, Amy. You'll love it when it's done. Don't worry, I'll finish soon, then we can be together again."

The cell phone beside the picture frame rang, and the man picked it up. "Hello? Yes, yes, I'm having a lovely time off, thank you... Yes, it's quite relaxing... Murders? Really? How terrible! Do stay safe then... Yes, of course. See you soon. Bye." The man hung up and smiled, taking his long knife out of the bucket of bleach it had been soaking in and twirling it between his fingers.

"Murders. Quite unfortunate indeed."

...

"I'm tired of waiting, Pride. When are we going to strike?" Greed asked angrily. Pride rolled his eyes. They sat in a shabby cafe on the corner of the street of the Police Station. Greed drank black coffee and ate a BLT, while Pride had Earl Grey tea and a chocolate chip muffin.

"Patience is a virtue, you insipid moron. We have to wait for _the proper moment._" Pride replied, rolling his eyes. His voice had reverted back to it's childishly high octave, too keep up appearances. The charade was an obvious irritant to him.

"But I'm _bored_." Greed complained. Pride sighed, his anger building. He struggled to tie it down.

"_Patience._ Exercise it." He growled, his tone final. Greed huffed, leaning back and crossing his arms.

"Fine. Whatever."

...

The house looked innocent enough on the outside. The main floor seemed innocent too. However, as the Elrics stood at the top of the staircase, they could smell the acrid stench of blood. Both of them cringed, memories of their failed human transmutation tumbling around in their minds.

The BAU members were already in the basement, while the Amestrians stayed on the main floor. Riza walked over to the Elrics and put one hand on each of their shoulders, steering them away from the stairs.

"There is no sign of forced entry. The "unsub" must have entered with a key. Or perhaps the door was already unlocked." She noted.

"Maybe the family kept a key under the mat or something." Alphonse offered. Roy nodded.

"Precisely what we were thinking." He agreed. At that moment, the BAU team came back upstairs. The Amestrians noticed with disgust that their was blood on the bottoms of their shoes.

"This is definitely the same guy." Morgan said.

"He must wear gloves. There were no finger prints anywhere." Prentiss added.

"This could be a tougher case than we first thought." JJ. said. Rossi smiled humorlessly, making the others stare.

"Nothing in our line of work is easy."

**Word, Rossi. Word.**


	3. A Lesson Without Pain

**Chapter three. Not a long wait for a 3000 word chapter, eh? Believe it or not, I had a 11 sticky note chapter plan for this chapter, and this is only sticky note 1-7. I had to cut it in half so it wasn't too long. ^_^ **

**By the way, sorry if I don't reply to reviews, I got a new email but it's not receiving any mail so I changed back to my old email and I'm not sure whether it's working again or not... So yeah, things are kind of fucked right now.**

**Anyway, enjoy and things. Oh, and Happy New Year. :) **

Chapter Three- A Lesson Without Pain

"So, I think it is safe to say that the unsub is collecting blue eyes. But, why the blood? It just seems unnecessary." Rossi said, fiddling idly with a pen.

"It must be a part of the unsub's fantasy, or something." Reid commented, looking at the victim board intently.

"Well, at the moment, I think the only thing we can do is hold a press conference and talk to the relatives of the deceased." JJ. said, sighing. The others nodded their heads.

"JJ., Rossi and I will handle the press conference. Reid and Prentiss, you two work with Garcia to find any connections between the two families. And..." Morgan trailed off, realizing he had run out of agents.

"We can talk to the relatives." Roy spoke up. He was sitting back in his chair with his arms crossed, looking at the victim board stoically.

"I'm not sure if-" Morgan began. Rossi waved his hand.

"The less time we spend on this, the better. Besides, they want to help with the case." Rossi pulled something out of an inside pocket on his suit jacket and tossed it to Roy. Inside a small plastic bag were four F.B.I. badges, each donning the name of one of the Amestrians. "To make it official." Rossi said, with a smirk. Morgan shrugged.

"Alright then. Let's go. We can meet at that cafe across from our hotel afterwards to discuss our findings." Morgan led JJ. and Rossi out of the conference room and looked at Rossi questioningly. "How did you get those badges, anyway?" Rossi gave him a Cheshire cat grin.

"I know a guy."

...

Half an hour later, the relatives and close friends of the victims were gathered in the police station. The Amestrians stood in the hallway between the two rooms which each held the loved ones of one of the families.

"Alright," Roy began. "Al and I will talk to the relatives of the first family; Lily, Adam, Julian and Serena Ramsey. Hawkeye and Ed, you talk to the relatives of the Walkers; Sue, Walter, Elizabeth and Annabella." He said. Riza and Alphonse nodded. Edward's eyebrows rose.

"Why those pairs?" He asked, not really to be a bother, he was just curious. Roy rolled his eyes, as if it were obvious.

"Because, Fullmetal," Edward gave him a dry look. "It's no secret that you and I are the more hard-headed of the four of us, while Hawkeye and Al are more calm and -quite frankly, _delicate_-, therefore, this way, we have opposite personalities to balance each other out. And since we don't want to upset the relatives, it works out well. Get it?"

"Sort of." Edward shrugged. "Okay, come on, Hawkeye." He sighed, walking into the door on the right. Inside the room sat a tired-looking middle-aged man, a hand-holding elderly couple and three sniffling children with a pair of adults.

"Hello. I am Riza Hawkeye and this is Edward Elric. We're sorry for your loss." Riza said, sitting down in one of the two chairs across a coffee table from the relatives. The words fell mechanically from her mouth, and she inwardly cringed. _We're sorry for your loss _was the most bullshit thing she could have said, even if it were true.

"I'm Stephen and this is my wife, Ella." The old man said. His voice trembling slightly. "Sue was our daughter."

"Lawrence Walker. Walter's brother." The tired middle-aged man said, dipping his head in a half-hearted greeting.

"Mary and Peter Dowdell, and these are our children, Jill, Kelly and Veronica." The woman with the children said. Her voice dropped. "We were their best friends." Edward shifted uncomfortably. He was not very good at this sort of thing.

"We're really sorry. Would you mind answering a few questions? I promise it will not take long." He said, looking everywhere but at the grieving people in front of him.

"Ask us anything." Ella said softly. Riza looked down at her clipboard, which had a sheet of questions they were supposed to ask.

"Firstly, I would like to know where you all were between 10 o'clock and midnight the day before last, on September 29, if you would not mind." Riza said.

"Ella and I were at home, asleep." Stephen said, receiving a confirmatory nod from his wife. "We're always in bed by 9."

"I was out with my wife at the Keg for her birthday." Lawrence said, running a hand through his thinning hair.

"The kids were in bed by 10, and we were watching a movie." Peter said. Riza nodded.

"Thank you." She said, subtly nudging the clipboard toward Edward, who took it begrudgingly.

"So, um... Did the Walkers mention having any work done on the house, or meeting any new people?" He asked, running his gaze over the teary, haunted faces of the relatives. They all exchanged glances, thinking.

"No... No, I don't think so." Mary said, turning her wedding ring around on her finger. Riza's brow furrowed.

"Did they happen to... Change Eye Doctors lately?" She asked suddenly. Edward looked at the clipboard. That wasn't one of the questions.

"Now that you mention it..." Lawrence said, frowning. "Yes, actually. In late May, they switched to a new Optometrist. I have the card somewhere." He muttered, digging through his wallet. After a moment he handed the card to Riza. The card read _The Rockbell Optometry Clinic. _Riza put the card in her pocket before Edward could see it.

"I'll be right back, carry on, Ed." She said, walking out. Edward nodded, mostly to himself, and looked back at the clipboard.

"Did the Walkers keep any doors unlocked, or a spare key somewhere outside?" He asked. All of the relatives nodded.

"They kept the doors and windows all locked tight, most of the time." Stephan said.

"But they kept a spare key in a little decorative rock in the front garden." Ella continued. Edward nodded and wrote it down.

"Thank you very much for coming down here. I believe that is all we need. If anything comes up, you'll be notified by the police." Edward paused, standing and looking at the bereft people in front of him, his eyes softening earnestly. "And, with all sincerity, we are terribly sorry about the Walkers. I promise you, we'll find whoever did this to them." Stephan stood and shook Edward's hand.

"Thank you, Young Man." He said, smiling slightly. The other four adults all shook his hand, thanking him, much to Edward's surprise. The three children even hugged him, asking him to find whoever killed their friends. Edward was shocked.

"Looks like they find you quite charming." Riza said after the relatives had left, smirking. She was leaning against the doorway, her arms crossed across her chest.

"I don't get it." Edward said simply, walking past her. The door to the other room was still closed, so he headed to the conference room to wait for Alphonse and Roy. Riza followed, falling into step beside him. Edward cocked his head as he thought he heard raised voices, but shrugged it off.

"I do." She said, glancing at him. "You're very charismatic, Ed. You give people hope, whether you mean to or not." Edward frowned thoughtfully. Riza ruffled his hair gently. "Don't read too much into it, Ed. Just take the compliment." Edward nodded, forcing a slight smile onto his face.

"Thanks, Hawkeye."

...

"Sort of." Edward shrugged. "Okay, come on, Hawkeye." He sighed. Roy and Alphonse watched the other two walk into the adjacent room, before turning to the door on the left and walking in.

"Do you have any leads? Why are we even here?" A woman in her late forties demanded as soon as they stepped into the room. Roy and Alphonse sat down.

"Hello. I am Alphonse Elric, and this is Roy Mustang. Please sit down, and we'll explain everything." Alphonse said, smiling calmly at the people in front of him. There was the woman who had spoken, a man of about the same age beside her, two elderly women and four teenage boys.

"Hello dears. I'm Helen, Lily's mother." One of the old women said.

"I'm Katherine, Adam's mother." The other said, waving slightly. They both seemed amiable enough, but their eyes were teary and pained.

"I am Vergil. This is my wife, Petunia. She's Lily's older sister." The middle-aged man said. Petunia crossed her arms, scowling at the floor.

"Hunter." The oldest of the young boys said. He was about twenty.

"Caleb." This boy was about seventeen.

"I'm Riley." Said the boy of about fifteen.

"I'm Blake." This boy was about thirteen. They were all trying not to look like they had been crying, but it was obvious they had been.

"They're the cousins on my side." Katherine clarified.

"Alright, we just have a few questions for you, if you don't mi-" Roy began. Petunia cut him off.

"Why? Do you think we're suspects?" She snapped. Roy sighed, already knowing he was going to hate the woman.

"We are just eliminating any suspicion of you, Mrs." He said slowly. Alphonse took the clipboard from him, deciding it would be better if he asked the questions.

"Firstly, where were you all between 9 o'clock and midnight on September 28?" He asked.

"I was at home watching that new Harry Potter movie." Helen offered.

"I read for a while and then went to bed by 10." Katherine said. "I can't stay up as late as I used to."

"Petunia and I were entertaining. Our guests didn't leave until after midnight." Vergil said.

"I was helping Blake with a Geography assignment, and Caleb and Riley were playing Call Of Duty." Hunter said. The other three nodded in agreement.

"Alright." Alphonse nodded pleasantly. "Did the Walkers mention having any work done on the house, or meeting any new people recently?"

"Not that I can recall." Helen said.

"Nope." Petunia agreed.

"Okay. Did the Ramseys keep any doors unlocked, or a spare key somewhere outside?" Alphonse continued.

"Yes, Lily usually left the back door unlocked. She was awfully forgetful." Helen said. There was a sudden knock on the door.

"Come in." Roy called, wondering who it was. Riza pushed open the door and walked in to stand behind Roy.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I was just wondering... Did the Ramseys happen to change Optometrists recently?" She asked. Roy and Alphonse both rose questioning eyebrows.

"Why, yes. They did. Just in July." Katherine said, tilting her head. "But what does that have to do with it?"

"We're just looking into things." Riza replied. "Do you have the name of the Optometrist?"

"Yes." Petunia said. "Doctor George." Riza frowned.

"Alright, thank you." She murmured before walking out, her brow furrowed. Alphonse and Roy exchanged a curious gaze before turning back to the family.

"Thank you very much for your cooperation." Alphonse said, standing. "We'll do everything we can to find out who killed the Ramseys." Roy also stood.

"Yes. And if there is anything we can do, do not hesitate to call." He added. Petunia stood abruptly, her fists clenched.

"Please! You're just doing your job! You don't care about them!" She half-shouted. Roy opened his mouth to object, but Alphonse beat him to it.

"Ma'am, we do not even work here." He said gently. Petunia glared at him.

"Bullshit! If you didn't, why would you care about our family?" She countered. A muscle jumped in Roy's jaw.

"Petunia, really..." Helen twittered nervously. Petunia ignored her, and opened her mouth as if to plough on.

"Ma'am, listen. No one deserves to have part of their family ripped away from them like this. I can't blame you for your anger, and I cannot even begin to imagine how much pain you're in..." Alphonse's eyes darkened. "But you have to believe me when I say that I will not stop until whoever killed your sister and her family is brought to justice." The room fell incredibly silent.

"Al..." Roy murmured, his brow furrowing. He made to pat Alphonse's shoulder, but the blond suddenly turned on his heel and walked to the door. He paused for a moment.

"Thank you again. Good luck." And then he walked out.

...

"The man we are looking for is between forty and fifty years old, and white. He is probably either newly divorced, or newly widowed and he has no children. This man is non-threatening, and he probably holds down a job, probably something 9-5." JJ. said, sweeping her gaze over the hoards of reporters in front of her. Rossi and Morgan stood on either side of her, ready for the onslaught of questions they were about to get.

"How do you know he isn't younger?"

"Why does he take their eyes?"

"Is it true that he called the police the day before last after the second set of murders?"

"Do you know what he looks like?"

"Did he leave any finger prints?"

"Why families?"

The voices all started to blend together, cancelling each other out and sounding like white noise. JJ. sighed.

"That's all we have time for." She said before walking away, frowning thoughtfully. Something about the profile just did not seem right to her.

...

The Amestrians were walking down the street toward the meeting place. Alphonse was still in a gloomy mood, and refused to say much of anything. Riza was deep in thought. And Edward and Roy refused to speak to each other, as usual, so they were a very quiet bunch.

As they turned onto an oddly empty side street, all four of them stopped dead. "Do you feel that?" Roy asked.

"Something isn't right." Alphonse murmured.

"We're being watched." Riza whispered, reaching into her coat.

"How perceptive of you, Alchemists." A familiar demonic voice echoed around the street. Leering shadows crept around them, swelling from the shadows of the buildings and alleyways.

"Pride." Edward hissed. The aforementioned Homunculus seemed to appear in front of them, a disturbing, psychotic grin twisting his young features.

"Hello, Elrics. Hello Colonel. Hello, Lieutenant." He said pleasantly. "Greed, come out and greet our... Friends."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Greed said as he dropped down from the roof of the building to their right. "It's about time we get you alone. We've been waiting for the past three days." He grumbled. Pride turned to glare at him.

"Would it kill you to _shut up and stop complaining_? All you do is _whine_." He growled. The Amestrians exchanged glances. Roy smirked and snapped his fingers. Immediately, the Homunculi were engulfed in flame. Pride's shadows lashed out at the Amestrians, who all jumped back. Riza took out a pistol and shot a few rounds into the flames.

"_Ow." _They heard Pride hiss. The shadows continued to twist and strike out at them, but they dodged most of them smoothly. Little did any of them know that their was an elderly man watching them from his apartment window, calling the police.

"That hurt." Greed grunted as the fire disappeared. Both of them were badly burned, but their skin was quickly regenerating. Pride's grin returned. Police sirens started up in the background, but no one noticed.

"You'll pay for that." He said as the shadows whipped out again, much faster than before. One of them went straight through Riza's left shoulder. Another through Alphonse's stomach. Edward used his automail arm to block the shadows, but they hit him with enough force to slam him into a parked car behind him. The last nearly missed Roy, but cut close enough to open a deep wound on his right side.

"Time to finish them off." Greed smirked. Suddenly, three police cars sped around the far corner on the street. Pride scowled.

"Come on, Greed. We can kill them later." He said, sounding none-too-pleased. Greed growled under his breath, but followed Pride into the shadows.

...

Truth gaped at the sight of the four limp bodies that were being loaded into an ambulance in Axiom's world.

"Axiom... What just happened?" Truth asked, shocked. _Were they dead?_

"I believe your Amestrians just got bested." Axiom said calmly, not sounding surprised in the least. Within a second, Truth had appeared in front of the other being and had seized its shoulders.

"_What have you done?_" Truth hissed, shaking its shadowy counter-part harshly. Axiom rolled its eyes and pried off Truth's hands. "I thought you granted them immortality, Axiom!"

"I changed my mind." Axiom stated simply.

"You... You _changed your mind_?" Truth sputtered, aghast. Axiom nodded.

"_A lesson without pain is meaningless._" Axiom recited. Truth's hands clenched into fists.

"That's not fair, Axiom! Don't throw those words at me! You promised to keep them safe! What if they're _dead_?" Truth yelled. Axiom smirked.

"I just want to keep their humility in tact. Make sure they remember that they are only human." Axiom paused. "Besides, this makes things more interesting, does it not?" Truth turned its back on Axiom, shaking in rage.

"You're sick. Your entire world is sick. I hate you." Truth hissed, walking further into its white void. Axiom chuckled humorlessly.

"Doesn't everyone?"

**What has become of our heroes? **

**Why is Axiom such a douche?**

**Will Wrath ever be caught?**

**Who the hell is Wrath, anyway?**

**Tune in for the next chapter of Inveigled to find out!**


	4. Strength

**Okay. Okay. This chapter has so many feelings. Holy shit. I need to go be stoic for like a week. **

**Sorry if this is a little confusing or disjointed, it seemed that way while I was reading it... But anyway, enjoy I suppose.**

Chapter Four- Strength

Edward was the first to wake up in the sterile white hospital room at around eight o'clock that night. His head was pounding, and a dull pain radiated through his chest with each breath. Riza was across the room, sleeping peacefully, it appeared.

"Where's Al?" Edward murmured to himself.

"He and Roy are still in surgery." Reid said as the BAU team entered the room. Edward jolted slightly in surprise.

"We'll give you a few minutes to come up with an explanation." Morgan said bluntly. Edward's brow furrowed.

"Huh? An explanation for what?" He asked, sitting up and watching the team reproachfully.

"Let's see... Your metal limbs, the weird tattoo on Riza's back, the tattoos on your and Alphonse's hands, the _twelve_ weapons we found on Riza, the fact that you told the families of the victims that your last name was Elric and not Hohenhiem... Oh, and the fight you just got in." Rossi said. Edward grew paler with each item, his eyes filling with panic.

"Um... Well..." His face hardened stubbornly. "I don't have to tell you anything."

"Actually, you do." Prentiss said. "Riza's firearms are not registered in any database, so she could go to prison for having them."

"And," JJ. added, looking hurt. "We want to know why you have lied to us." Edward turned to look at the window, frowning.

"You would not believe anything I said, even if I told you." He grumbled, inwardly sighing. "Trust me. It's not a simple explanation."

"Lay it on us." Rossi said, leaning against the wall.

'_Where to even begin..._' Edward sighed. "You have to promise not to interrupt." After getting nods of consent, he began. "Well, I guess it all started back in our world. You see, we're not from here. We live in a place called Amestris..."

...

At about precisely 11:12 pm on September 31, the middle-aged man walked up to the little light yellow house on the quiet suburban street and walked through the front door as if he belonged there.

"Forgetting to lock your door while there is a murderer running loose? Not advisable." The man murmured as he walked into the basement. Four children were fast asleep on air mattresses, oblivious to their death looming over them. The man strangled each of them, and then laid them out side by side before going upstairs again, and then venturing to the top floor. It was easy enough to strangle the wife and carry her down to the basement, and then easier still to force the husband down after her and strangle him as well.

As usual, he set to work, draining them of blood and painting the room red with it. Then he set to work on the eyes. The father, the mother, the oldest girl, the middle boy, the youngest girl... And then the poor friend who had picked the wrong day to sleep over. He gently, almost lovingly opened her eyes, but upon seeing them, he roared in rage.

The girl's eyes were brown. A dull, murky brown that enraged the man to no end. He threw aside the careful tools that he had used on the other eyes and took out his knife.

"You are not what Amy wants." He growled. He crudely cut out the girl's eyes and put them away so he would not have to see them. "Disgusting."

...

"So..." Prentiss said, sucking in a breath. "You come from a different world almost one hundred years in the past where Alchemy is the dominant scientific study?" Edward nodded.

"You, Roy and Riza all work for the military there?" JJ. added. Another nod.

"There are non-human beings called Homunculi who are named after the Seven Deadly Sins, two of which are now in our world?" Reid continued. Edward took a deep breath through his nose and nodded again.

"And you were brought here by two God-like beings known as _Truth_ and _Axiom_?" Rossi finished. Edward nodded, gritting his teeth. His eyes had not left the window since he had begun his explanation, but he had a distant look in his eyes, as though he saw something the agents did not outside of the window. Something they could not even begin to imagine.

"I believe that the important points of Ed's account." Riza spoke up from the other side of the room. Unbeknownst to the other occupants of the room, she had woken up just after Edward and had been listening to them the entire time.

"What about your limbs?" Morgan asked. Edward's entire body froze.

"I am not talking about it." He growled, his voice leaving no room for argument. The room fell soberly silent. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and a doctor poked his head in.

"Alphonse Hohenhiem and Roy Mustang have been released from surgery. They are in the next room." The doctor said before disappearing. Edward slipped out of bed, holding his left side and walking to the door.

"You have a few broken ribs, you should not be moving so soon." JJ. said. Edward waved her off.

"I'll be fine. I have to make sure Al is okay." He said. The agents had not even noticed that Riza had gotten up to follow him. They walked stiffly into the next room. Roy was sitting up, being hooked up to an IV by a pretty nurse, while Alphonse was across the room, his eyes closed but his breathing too quick to be asleep. Edward walked over at his brother and slowly sat in the chair beside the bed. "Hey Al." He whispered. Alphonse's eyes flickered open.

"Hi brother." He croaked. The nurse who had been with Roy hurried over and pressed a button on the bed that gently shifted Alphonse into a sitting position and then offered him a bottle of water. "Tha... Thank you." Alphonse coughed, sipping the water gingerly. Edward heaved a sigh.

"What am I going to do with you, Al? You just love to worry me, don't you?" He murmured. Alphonse gave him a wary look that was probably meant to be a glare, but fell flat.

"You're one to talk. You're such a hypocrite." Alphonse pouted. Edward chuckled despite himself.

"Yeah, I guess so." He agreed.

Meanwhile, across the room, Roy and Riza were having one of their typical conversations:

"I am glad you are alright, Colonel." Riza said as she sat on the chair beside Roy's bed. Roy nodded.

"I'm glad you are alright as well." He said. Riza nodded. "By the way... That hospital garb does nothing for you, Lieutenant." He quipped. Riza's eye twitched.

"Thank you, Sir." She hissed, her voice tight. Roy smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. He had obviously been expecting a slap for the comment. "You should consider thinking before you speak, Colonel."

"Interesting notion." Roy mused, tapping his chin. Riza rolled her eyes, but an amused smile tugged at her lips all the same. At that moment, the BAU agents walked in and settled around the room. Edward sighed, knowing they wanted more answers.

"So they aren't actually related to you?" Reid asked, jerking his head toward Roy band Riza, who chose to stay silent, wondering what the Elrics would say. The brothers nodded.

"No. Like we told you last time we were here, we have no relatives." Edward said, looking at the wall.

"Besides our father." Alphonse added. Edward turned his head to glare at the ground, avoiding looking at anyone.

"Don't talk about him." He growled flatly. Alphonse pursed his lips, but did not comment. He knew better than that.

"To be honest, we all forgot about that. It never even crossed my mind that they were not related to you." Rossi said, frowning.

"I guess we were just so absorbed in the case, that we didn't have the time or energy to question anything." JJ. sighed. "Besides... There was always something otherworldly about you two."

"It's understandable. It is a very difficult case." Alphonse said kindly.

"And your last name? Was that a lie too?" Prentiss asked. The brothers looked at each other, uneasily.

"Well, yes..." Alphonse began.

"And no." Edward finished. The BAU agents' eye brows raised.

"Continue." Morgan stated firmly.

"Hohenhiem is our dad's last name. We usually go by our mom's maiden name, Elric." Alphonse explained. His voice dropped. "Ed doesn't like to be reminded of dad."

"Well, I think that's all we need to know now." Morgan said, saving Edward from having to say anything. "The doctors want to keep you all overnight. We'll send over a car tomorrow to take you to the station. Sound good?"

The Amestrians nodded. "Fine." Roy agreed. The BAU team slowly filed out the door. Reid, the last one to go, paused before going out.

"Good night." He said quietly. Then he was gone.

...

Only a few hours after his third murder at 2:48 am on October 1, the middle-aged man walked into the old bungalow with a comfortable, confident air. The door was locked, but there was a key in the knot-hole of the small willow tree in the front garden.

The man walked past the stairs to the basement, the kitchen and the living room, until he came to the back of the home, where three bedrooms branched off of the hallway. He walked into the middle bedroom and stopped on the left side of the bed. He put some duct tape over the wife's mouth so that she would not make any noise before strangling her. Once she was unconscious, he lifted her up and carried her to the basement. He soon returned to the master bedroom.

"Get up." The man demanded, quietly so as not to wake the children. Not yet. The husband jolted up, looking first to the empty space on the bed beside him, and then to the man pointing a gun at his head.

"Where is Trisha?" The husband demanded. The man cocked the gun, scowling.

"I told you to get up. Now." He growled. The husband slowly stood, and allowed the man to force him into the basement at gun-point. When he saw his wife he turned to the gunman, half-furious and half-horrified.

"Is she dead?" He asked quietly. The gunman grinned, but he did not like the aura of danger that the husband was radiating.

"Not yet." With that he hit the husband over the head with the gun and then strangled him. Once that was done, he walked back upstairs. He entered the room of the older child first. A floorboard under his foot creaked and the child sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily. When he spotted the unfamiliar man, his blue eyes widened.

"Alan!" He yelled. The man hissed in anger and plucked up the child before hurrying to the room across the hall. The younger child was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking confused. Upon seeing the gunman with his struggling older brother thrown over his shoulder, the younger child began crying. The gunman closed the door and stood in front of it, setting the older brother on the ground. Before the child could move, the man seized him around the neck and squeezed until the resistance left the child's boy. The man then set the limp body down and turned to the younger boy, who was by that time sobbing.

"Do not be sad. This is all for Amy." The man smiled at the boy before strangling him and carrying both children to the basement. He arranged the family on the floor in a line before taking out his knife. "Your eyes are so beautiful. So blue. Exactly what Amy wants to prove my love for her... Simply stunning..."

Then he set to work.

...

"Axiom... Was that...?" Truth tilted its head in confusion, completely forgetting his feud with the shadowy being in its bewilderment. Axiom nodded.

"It appears so. How odd." It commented idly. Truth frowned.

"Of all the things... I don't think they can handle this type of thing, Axiom. Not again." Truth said, quiet. Axiom shrugged, looking down.

"They don't have a choice." It said simply. Truth sighed, rubbing its face tiredly. For a God, Truth felt oddly powerless.

"I know."

...

"Do you guys actually believe them?" Morgan asked, rubbing his face tiredly. The others shrugged, seeming torn.

"It's an insane story." Prentiss said. "But I'm tempted to believe them. Edward seemed sincere."

"They could just be insane." Reid said quietly.

"Do you really believe that? Those boys are not crazy. You can tell from the look in their eyes." Rossi said, nodding to himself.

"I..." JJ. trailed off, swallowing. "I think I believe them."

"Are you serious?" Morgan demanded, astonished. Who would believe a crazy story like Edward's?

"Yeah... I don't think they want to lie to us. I think they're tired." JJ. murmured.

"Tired? Of what?" Reid asked, eyebrows raised. JJ. sighed.

"Hiding."

...

The Amestrians walked out of the hospital the next morning, looking worse for wear, but feeling well enough (all things considered). Outside of the hospital was a black Jeep being driven by a police officer. The Amestrians climbed into the vehicle and the officer turned to talk to them.

"Two more families were killed last night. Agent Morgan wants you to go check out the second crime scene." He said.

"Alright, let's go." Roy said, frowning. The officer nodded and began driving. They arrived at the bungalow. They hesitantly stepped out of the Jeep and walked toward the house. As they entered, they noticed police officers busy dusting for fingerprints, taking pictures and bagging potential evidence. They stopped at the top of the basement stairs.

"Let's get this over with." Edward sighed, walking down the stairs before he lost his nerve. The scent of blood wafted up the stairs, choking him, but he kept going. Near the bottom of the stairs, however, he stopped down in his tracks, making the other three bump into him.

"Ed, what's wr..." Alphonse trailed off, his face draining of colour.

"What's going on?" Roy murmured, slipping past Edward to peer at the bodies with morbid -and slightly horrified- curiousity.

"Mom... and Dad." Alphonse whispered. On the ground was a copy of the Elric family. Hohenhiem, Trisha... Edward and Alphonse. The murdered family looked exactly like them, several years previous. Alphonse picked his way carefully over the blood-saturated floor to crouch beside the body of the woman who looked exactly like their mother.

"Who were they?" Edward asked an officer who was photographing the bodies. The officer paused.

"Vincent, Trisha, Edmond and Alan Elric." The officer said. Alphonse, who had been staring at Trisha's face, suddenly stood and dashed up the stairs. Edward turned to watch him disappear up the stairs, but did not follow him just yet.

"How old were they? Edmond and Alan?" He asked, turning back to the officer.

"Edmond was ten and Alan was nine." The officer said, beginning to take pictures again. Edward nodded and then sighed, pushing back his bangs. He stood still for a few moments, staring at the all-too-familiar bodies. He tried to avoid looking at the body of Trisha, but in the end, his gaze fell on her corpse.

She looked identical to his mother, the same soft features, pale skin and brown hair. He wondered if her voice had sounded the same. If she had hummed the same tunes as she cleaned. Did she have a job here? Did she have that same sweet smell that he had never been able to identify?

Edward walked over to the bodies and, with shaking fingers, lightly closed the eyelids of each corpse, hiding the empty socket beyond. With their eyes closed like that he could image the three males to have bright gold eyes, and the woman to have gentle brown ones. He sighed again and turned to go upstairs.

"I'm going to find Al. You can handle this, right?" He murmured. Riza nodded.

"Of course. Go ahead." She said, her eyes soft with sympathy for the brothers. Edward nodded in thanks and walked to the main floor of the home. It was easy enough to find Alphonse by the trail of bloodied footprints he left. In the end, he found his brother standing at the edge of the deck in the backyard. He stared out at the yard, silent tears falling from his eyes.

Edward stood next to him, unsure of what to say. They both stayed silent for a long time, just watching, just listening.

It was a beautiful, warm autumn day. The sun shone down on them, and a pleasantly crisp breeze whispered through the trees, catching at loose leaves and leading them in a graceful, twirling dance until they hit the ground or snagged on a fence. The sounds of life were all around them, the pounding of running and playing footsteps, the low rumble of traffic, the sweet melody of chirping birds and humming insects, and the tinkling, bell-like sound of child laughter.

"It's funny," Alphonse spoke up suddenly. Edward turned his head, gazing curiously at him. "how an entire family can be brutally murdered, and yet nothing changes. The world keeps turning, the sun keeps shining, the birds keep singing. People keep working, talking, dancing, running, laughing. Nothing changes..." Alphonse turned to look at the house over his shoulder. "And yet everything does."

There was a pregnant silence.

"They were the same age we were." Edward murmured after a few minute's pause. Alphonse gave him a curious look.

"What?" He asked, rubbing the tears from his face. Edward sighed. That morning he had been so full of life, but the events of the past half-hour seemed to have aged him significantly. He looked more like Hohenhiem than ever.

"Those boys. They were the same age as us when Mom died." He whispered, his eyes following a bird as it glided leisurely through the sky, carried by the zephyr. Alphonse looked at the ground miserably, holding back more tears. Edward heaved another sigh, feeling weighed down by the plethora of emotions that tugged at his heart. They seemed to swim around them, threatening to drown both he and Alphonse.

Then, someone came up behind them and pulled them both into a hug. It was a maternal sort of hug, the kind that chased away the nightmares and soothed child-hood fears. It was not the kind of thing they would expect of the stoic Riza Hawkeye.

"The Colonel's still inside. This can stay between us." She whispered. "I'm really sorry you two had to see that." After a moment she released the brothers and gestured for them to sit on the edge of the deck. They obliged, sitting side-by-side, and she sat on Alphonse's left, watching them with a touch of concern softening her usually hard eyes. Both Elrics were in tears by now. "Crying isn't a sign of weakness, you know... It's a sign that you have been too strong for much too long."

"That so?" Edward whispered, watching the sky. Riza nodded.

"Yeah." She said. "And I would say that if anyone knows about strength, it would be the two of you."

"We aren't strong." Alphonse murmured, his face in his hands. "We're just... human."

...

Truth looked down upon the scene with a swirl of emotions. Sympathy, guilt, regret, sadness. Why were the Elrics always the ones that the world picked on?

'_Because they are strong. They are incredibly strong. Maybe too strong._' Truth thought with a sigh.

"It's a shame they don't know better." Axiom murmured, gaining Truth's attention. "Calling those boys "only human". It's a laughable notion. They never stop moving forward, whether they have legs to walk or not."

Truth could only nod. Axiom paused, making sure the other being was not going to speak before continuing.

"I daresay they are stronger than even us."

**... All my feelings. **

**Review or whatever. I'm going to go cry in the corner.**


End file.
